The Diary of Roebuck
by muahahahaboo
Summary: Set in 2012-2013, a new virus has broken out. This dramatic story is the diary of Sergeant Roebuck.
1. Prologue

**The Diary of Roebuck**

Prologue

I lived through the "Ending Age" as people called it. Hell, it wasn't until I noticed that the entire country had cut off airports that it occurred to me that I was smack dab in the middle of the last days of mankind. But I knew we would prevail, and we did. I am Sergeant David Roebuck in the United States Marine Corp. I've lost friends, almost my entire family, and now, I think I've lost myself. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, the doctors called it. America was the first one to pull through this, technology and all. We assisted other countries and not long ago, VC (Victory in China) day was declared. The infected were still out there, but they would soon starve to death. I'm going to stop bullshitting you. Here's my story.


	2. Part 1: Outbreak

**Part 1: Outbreak**

September 18, 2012

It was my birthday. I had a hot girlfriend (I had been dating her for a year) and not a care in the world. I was going back to active duty within a few days. Friends had come over and drank. I had just turned 19. Life is awesome, I thought to myself. Killing bad guys, partying, guns, getting girls. What's not to like?

December 27, 2012

_"-type of virus –In China today, a rabies –brutally murdered and –is not airborne-"_

"Hey guys! Come, check this out, it's all over the news." I was sitting in my barracks, my feet up on a chair with the remote flipping through the channels. My NCO at the time was Sergeant Floyd Fillmore. He and other guys slowly flocked to the TV.

"What's up, Private?"

"Check it out, a new virus. Rabies kind of thing."

On TV, I was on the channel with the murder reports and pictures of the scene.

"Seriously Roebuck, who the hell cares 'bout this?" Corporal Timothy Walker said. They all walked past me back to their game of boxing. Walker walked past me and at the same time rubbed his hand on the top of my head gently, basically telling me, "Idiot."

_"Ehh, nothing to worry about" _I thought to myself. I had no idea that within a couple months, the world would be in a state of crisis.


	3. Part 2: No Retreat

**Part 2: No Retreat**

December 30, 2012

The Brigadier General was giving us a short speech. "Alright Marines! Here's the skinny. In a couple days we are going to be deployed. The president is in Hawaii, which is sealed off. Now the Z's are spreading from the east. We are going to try to slow down their advance. The National Guard has evacuated the population west. We're going to the edge of the zombie advance to the south and we're going to hold them off there. No questions asked and we're gonna kick ass. Understood?"

"Oo-rah," all of the Marines shouted. Most were nervous, but the ones that have seen battle kept serious faces on.

January 2, 2013

Once there, we dug foxholes and trenches. For an entire day there was no sign of an advance. We had been educated a bit on the subject. The zombies weren't dead. Just a little… brain damaged, you could call it. It would eat anything edible in sight. Guess the primal system by itself isn't too smart after all, I thought. We ate well that day, knowing it may be our last meal. We checked ammo, cleaned our rifles, and watched the line all night. Not a single zombie. I spent the day thinking. "Why didn't we just nuke them? How the hell did the virus spread so damn fast?" In the end I just accepted that it wasn't for me to know. The radio also kept me busy with news reports. "-_The U.S.M.C. is attempting to slow down the virus's advance by deploying and holding out. - The air force is doing a nice job eradicating the zombies from the air. -Scientists have come up with a name for the virus. Primalibius. -The National Guard is locking down the country and evacuating civilians to the west. -Meanwhile in other countries, Russia and Germany seem to be keeping the virus at bay while China is currently losing soldiers quickly. The Middle East is not faring so well either. - There still is hope out there. Lets pray that one day we will pull out of this mess. God help us."_

January 3, 2013

"Walker! I need you on the right side!"

Walker got up from his foxhole and yelled, "Sir!" acknowledging the order. Meanwhile I was on the left with my sixty-gunner. All these years and the reliable M-60 was still not replaced. I on the other hand, was shooting in quick bursts with my M4 and the L-3 EOTech Holographic sight. The zombies would come in waves of half a dozen to a dozen, probing our positions. I had been wrong yesterday about them being dumb. They would use different tactics, attacking our weakest points. So far we were holding out. No casualties. All across the Z-Line (how far the virus had advanced), marines were holding. We were kicking ass.

Fillmore yelled to me. "Hey Roebuck! I need a grenade!" He pointed to where he wanted me to throw. I pulled the pin and threw the grenade. As soon as it left my hand, the safety latch flew off and landed to the left of the zombies. It blew and most of the zombies in that mob had been eliminated. Fillmore took care of the rest and my sixty-gunner had to reload. I covered him with my M-4, but it soon jammed. The M-4 was supposed to improve the number of times it jammed than the M-16, but not eliminate it. I cursed. I tried to frantically pull the lever on my M-4, but it stuck. I cursed over and over, five times in five seconds. I pulled out my M9 Beretta and chose my targets carefully. The enemy had gotten closer than I would like them to be, and as soon as my sixty gunner had finished reloading, he cut them down and I sighed with relief. I cocked the lever on my weapon and started to fire again. If you looked on a map, our Marine forces literally had no gaps in our lines. Hundreds of miles long were foxholes side by side. Occasionally a Marine would lose his sense of direction and ask around for his unit. The Z's had been attacking for a full hour now, but in small numbers. How many of these things were there? Honestly though, I think the Air Force saved our ass prematurely. Had they not done bombing runs, we would have all been overrun. Snipers would get up in the trees and pick off the ones faraway. The zombies then would run the direction the bullet had come from, leading them into an ambush.

January 12, 2013

We'd been re-supplied a few days ago. C-17's had parachuted supplies all over the damn place. We'd been fighting for god knows how long. We moved the supplies to the back of the line so the zombies wouldn't use them for cover.

There was good news and bad news on the radio. China's forces were being defeated time after time, probably because the president was pushing his forces too hard, into a massacre. Germany and Russia were gaining on the victories and wiping it out. Japan was already clean after the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force quickly took care of it. They had assembled their army and quickly reacted.

The trouble is we couldn't starve the Z's. They could hibernate for years and we couldn't keep the fight up that long. The president had been bombing the hell out of the east coast too, for a soon-to-come invasion with the Army.

The zombies lay off us today, probably gathering to regroup.

January 14, 2013

I was right. The first thing they tried was an all out attack. For most guys, they had covered their mouths and noses with the new combat MOPP gear designed for these nasties. The eyes weren't covered so it allowed for peripheral vision, a crucial component in a battle like this. Our suits were very thick, it would take a zombie a few seconds to bite through the cloth, which in a couple seconds, a soldier could blow its head off. The zombies had come at us at full force, body count over 100. We lost some good men. A lot of us had retreated almost fifty feet from our foxholes or trenches. All that were bitten spent the last few minutes with their brothers and were shot. Many cried uncontrollably that day, including me. My sixty-gunner was covering me as I ran, and I stopped to cover him. As he was getting up though, he screamed. I shot the Z on him and he managed to make it. He knew what this meant. He would die. We cried together, told our experiences and how we truly felt for each other. We had been more than family. I felt closer to him than to my family in my entire life. I let him sob until he stopped, and I lifted my rifle and shot him. I collapsed to the ground, sobbing.

"Hey, hey, Roebuck." I didn't pay my Sergeant any mind. He grabbed my collar and dragged me up. "Listen up Private. I know it's hard. We just lost Walker too." At that I started bawling, making loud crying noises. The men felt what I felt, and didn't think much about my crying as most were crying too. "Look, I need you combat-ready. Can you do that for me?"

I did my best to stop and managed to mumble out a few words. "I'm okay, I'm okay." I jumped back in my foxhole. I sanitized my friend's M-60 with a new spray we received in the re-supply that would actually cripple and "kill" the virus. I mumbled to myself, "Sons of bitches. I'm gonna get payback for this. My buddy died with this gun. And you're going to die by it. Come and try to take me."


	4. Part 3: The Arrowhead

**Part 3: The Arrowhead**

February 1, 2013

Our new replacements we had gotten were battle-hardened veterans now, with the daily fighting. I had been field promoted to Corporal to manage some of the men, skipping Private First Class and Lance Corporal, called a jumpstep promotion. The U.S. Army had secured the Eastern tip. It's elite forces, the Rangers and the occasional rumors of the Delta Force, helped expand the Army's advancement substantially. The U.S. Navy helped in the capture of the coast with constant bombardment and manpower. Its SEALS would then be given orders to take out some of the major masses of zombies. We had been actually falling back. We had lost tens of miles of ground as the Z's had massed on the west side of their advancement. But still, we fought on.

"_The U.S. Marines have failed to stop the zombie advancement as more zombies flock towards the west. However, this opening has left the east coast vulnerable and the Army there has secured territory there.."_

February 8, 2013

The Army had helped us. The Army was attracting some of the mobs towards them, thus reducing the number of attacks.

We decided to take the ground we had lost. We advanced rapidly, cutting into zombie territory in the south like an arrow. The Army had met up with us, and together, we pushed north and south. The South was difficult to take. The zombies were having a last stand. While the Army maintained rear security and looked north, we looked south. We had gotten minimal air support. I myself had nearly been killed several times. In the territory we now owned, an HQ had been set up. We were preparing for the final push on the south.


	5. Part 4: Losses

**Part 4: Losses**

February 10, 2013

I slowly advanced through the street. I gripped my weapon tight. Marine forces were securing the area building by building and we even had a few Bradley's. We had a couple hundred Marines or so, all around the area. It was quiet, too quiet. The others had noticed it too and were on full alert. The first one we noticed was down the street. He was torn to shreds as everyone in the area shot at the Z. I noticed smoke up ahead. "Shit, hey Sarge, I ain't got a good feeling about this. That smoke could be an ambush."

"Just keep your eyes peeled, we'll get through this alright."

I was breathing hard. We let the APC pass through the smoke first, and then we heard machine gun fire and the 25 mm M242 gun being fired. It backed out. Now we were all walking backwards quickly. It was Fillmore, a dozen men, and me. As soon as the APC had cleared the smoke, we saw the Zs coming. We could feel the ground shake and I ran as fast as I could, furiously breathing. I looked back a couple times to put rounds into the enemy. The APC was virtually indestructible. But it was the only one. The others were busy supporting other Marines. Fillmore spoke into his headset.

"Guys fall back! It's an ambush. All Marines! FALL BACK!!!"

The APC was successfully fighting off the horde. The rest of the Marines responded by backing up and as soon as they had started to backup, they saw the same thing we saw. I was reloading my M-60 on the run.

"Fuck it." I dropped the M-60, pulled out my side arm and ran for it. As I was running, I looked to my side. Fillmore had ran full speed into a zombie and literally sent it flying. We ran about an entire mile out of town. The others had done the same, but some had suffered casualties.

Fillmore went up to a Captain. "Sir, we need to tell the Air Force or the Navy to blow the damn place to kingdom come."

February 11, 2013

We had gotten what we wanted. Air strikes and artillery had been pounding the place for an entire day. We were going to try again. We moved along the same street, the place now in flames. This time around, we had secured the streets. No ambushes. However, we hadn't secured nor did we destroy a lot of possible hiding spots.

Fillmore, me, and two replacements I had come to know as Kowalewski and Halls stacked up on a door. It was a relatively small looking house. I kicked open the door and squeezed the trigger. A zombie now slumped down on the floor with a hole in his neck, blood still squirting from it. Fillmore had already secured his side of the room.

"Alright Halls, Kowa, and Roe, secure the rooms." I kicked open my door, nothing. Kowa kicked open his, again, nothing. Halls, though, his had one waiting by the door. Halls screamed as it bit him and took off a chunk of his flesh. Kowa shot the primal resident in the head and went to Halls.

"It's alright Halls!" Kowa said. Kowa and Halls had been friends longer than I had known Fillmore.  
"Don't touch him, Kowalewski!" I yelled.

Halls was telling Kowa to shoot him and Kowa had tears in his eyes, saying goodbye. His trembling hands shot Halls in the forehead and ran to me like a little kid running to his mom.

"It's alright Kowa, It's alright. My left hand was on his back and my right hand was on his helmet. He was crying and I had him in my arms, fully feeling what he felt.

February 13, 2013

The South was secure. While we had trouble with our city, other marine units met virtually no resistance. The Army had pushed north and secured most of it. We were redeployed to the front lines again.

February 20, 2013.

Today was the day the horde would be crushed in this country. The zombies knew it, and they would fight to the last. The M2 Flamethrower from World War 2 was modified to provide a hotter flame, thus incinerating a zombie quicker. We would kick open a door and shoot flame through the entrance. Zombies burned and died. We moved on to the last house assigned to us. Then Kowa, Fill, Burn (the new replacement) and I stacked up on the door. I raised my boot to my chest and brought it down, causing the doors to open with a bang. I stepped back quickly and Burn, with the flamethrower, stepped forward and a burst of flame shot into the house.

The door was big enough for both Fillmore and I. I stepped through and covered the right and Fillmore covered the left. I shot a zombie square in the head. Just as he stepped through with me, a burning zombie had grabbed onto him. He managed to shoot the zombie going down and he pushed the lifeless form off of him.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Got bit. Don't shoot me just yet though. Yesterday they told me we might have a cure for this thing. I'm gonna volunteer myself."

"Alright. Let's go back." I pulled out my handheld radio. "All elements, be advised. This is Corporal Roebuck. Sergeant Fillmore has been infected. Secondary objectives have been completed. Retreat to primary fallback position. All squads confirm."

"Squad 1, confirmed."

"Squad 3, confirmed."

"Squad 5 confirms."

As the squads all confirmed, I had Fillmore in my arms. Kowa was covering the rear and all of us were falling back to rearm to go in and complete the primary objective. First though, F-22s dropped a shitload of bombs and Little Birds shot at everything that moved. Abrams and and Bradleys would advance first. The armor was impenetrable to the enemy. The battlefield would be a nightmare. We've secured the city and the zombies had their backs to the ocean. However, there was a grassy field. A large one. One that could contain hundreds of zombies. I once played a game based on World War Two where the Japanese would be in the grass and would go on banzai attacks as soon as American soldiers had gone close enough. I hoped that wouldn't happen.

Fillmore, on the other hand, had been injected with the cure and restrained. He'd be out of this fight. We nodded once to each other.

February 21, 2013

Fillmore looks to be turning a little. But it's been an entire day and he hasn't gone berserk, which gave me hope. Today was the big day. The armor would move through the field, and if the zombies didn't attack, we would burn them out. At that point the zombies should come running towards us. At which point the enemy targets would be revealed. .50 caliber Machine guns including the standard M2 Browning would cover our retreat and would make a delaying movement along with the armor. There we would cover the machine gunners and try to hold out in a firing line. There would be no cover for us. But that didn't matter. We would have our flanks covered on the ends, and we would try to stop the zombies. If all else failed, we would retreat as far as we can and nuke the damn place, hopefully not taking us with it. But nukes meant the spread of radiation through the high winds.

We slowly stayed in the open just beyond the field and the armor passed through. Occasionally they fired randomly into the grass and occasionally got a zombie or so. However, the heavy vehicles had passed through unopposed, and I sent Private Burns up there. Others went along Burns, all with flamethrowers. They spread out and burned the grass.

And the damn place became a killing ground.

Tanks blasted into the horde and the APC's did the same. We retreated a hundred meters from the field where the machine guns and the vehicles were effectively holding them off.

"Ready to fire!" I shouted. The buildings had been leveled in this place. We could see streets the left and right of us meaning we didn't need flank guards, which we had originally planned. We brought up our weapons and I heard my platoon leader, Captain Scott Miller, say on the radio, ".50 calibers retreat. Get those damn guns over here." But without machine gun fire, the zombies soon got close and the gunners had made a run for it without the Browning's. The Captain couldn't blame them. The armor had started to slowly move back, firing whatever armament they had. Instead of attacking the armor this time, they charged through the gaps and didn't bother to attack them.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" Several voices had shouted on the radio. All of us had begun picking targets and putting them down, at the same time slowly walking back. My heart, like always, began beating quickly.

"Fuckin' hell," I whispered to myself. Burns was alongside me. He hadn't ditched his flamethrower. We would need it later. For now, he was firing his M16A4. Our bullets weren't even hitting our armor; there were too many zombies. Soon, they had gotten within twenty meters of us and we held the line until fifteen feet. Then we fell back. The air support was trying to buy us time without hitting our own armor, still in the mass. The Cobras, the new AH-6J Little Birds, and even the Black Hawks were there, putting fire on the zombies as soon as we had started running. The problem was: we hadn't planned for this other than the nuke. We just kept firing. The frustration in me was building.

February 23, 2013

We had fallen back a few miles. There was no way to know the fate of our brothers in the tanks and APC's. They were probably dead. There had been no trace of infected blood in his veins. Unfortunately, it was on low supply. We tried to do the same thing today. Even made it as far as our former temporary HQ. We found them. The deserted armor. We threw grenades in to make sure no one was alive in there. How did we account for the dead? Simple. All missing were dead.


	6. Part 5: Brothers in Arms

**Part 5: Brothers in Arms**

February 23,2013

The day started with our poet, Burns, reading us a poem by Shakespeare he always kept.

_That he which hath no stomach to this fight,  
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,  
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;  
We would not die in that man's company  
That fears his fellowship to die with us.  
This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.  
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,  
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,  
and rouse him at the name of Crispian.  
He that shall live this day, and see old age,  
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,  
And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' _

_Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,  
And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'  
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,  
But he'll remember, with advantages,  
What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,  
Familiar in his mouth as household words-  
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,  
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-  
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.  
This story shall the good man teach his son;  
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,  
From this day to the ending of the world,  
But we in it shall be remembered-  
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;  
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me  
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,  
This day shall gentle his condition;  
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed  
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,  
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks  
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day._

The men listened to it quietly. We had all lost brothers. I reflected on what had happened. My 60-gunner bitten… Halls… Walter… It just didn't seem fair.

***

February 28, 2013

With our attacks continuing, most of them had been wiped out. Of course, casualties were in the dozens. Now it was reduced to a few attacks here and a few attacks there. No massive waves the occasional stranded zombie. For the most part we had won. But there was one day I wouldn't forget. I've tried many times, but it just made me more devastated.

On the 25th, Fillmore and I were on a quick patrol. Just a walk. We'd been chatting about the Marine Corp, the world, our personal lives, whatever there was to talk about.

We promised after the war we'd become neighbors and look out for each other. Possibly even reenlist.

"Man, we really kicked ass, didn't we?"

"Mmh, yes sir," I said.

"Do me a favor will ya?"

"Sir?"

"When we get back home, and my wife comes over not complaining about anything, call the cops because I'm in there dead."

I grinned. "Will do."

As soon as I had said that a zombie had charged out and bit Fillmore's neck. It tore a piece out of Fillmore's neck and I shot it several times. Fillmore fell to the ground.

"Fillmore!" I screamed. I got down to the ground and looked at my friend. He tightly gripped arm.

He struggled out a few words. "Take care of my wife."

"I will, Fill. I will." Tears were coming from my eyes.

"Roebuck." He looked at me and a tear was going sideways on his head. He gripped my arm even harder, and all of a sudden, his grip just faded. His head rolled on its side and his eyes were lifeless.

I was crying and dragging my friend back. We were less than a hundred meters from the HQ. I dragged him all the way, where doctors said they couldn't do anything, which I had known from the beginning. I sat on a crate, my head down, tears steadily rolling down my face.


	7. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

Soon after, I was promoted to Sergeant and given command of a squad. Burns, Kowa, and other replacements would now look up to me. On March 8th, we deployed to China. The worst for most of the world was over. China was all that remained. VC day took a while. With all that happened before we had deployed and the dense population, we lost thousands of Marines. The war would finally end in late 2015. I was honorably discharged, and my girlfriend, which had known I was alive (otherwise she'd get a United States letter regarding my death, as she was the only "family" I had put down on my application). Not that I had one now. Immediately after, I proposed to her. She said yes and I enjoyed my life with her and a couple kids. I had moved next door to Fillmore's wife, which I promised to find and take care of. Governments were rebuilt and the world was returning back to normal. But for months after that incident, I'd hear Fillmore every night, saying his last word. _Roebuck._ Kowa and Burns would live their own separate lives. We wrote to each other now. Since the war, we had learned to appreciate life. I had seen friends die in front of my eyes. And now, every day, I ask myself, was there anything I could have done?


End file.
